Combination reinforced box



May 2, 1961 A. SHARP ETAL COMBINATION REINFORCED BOX Filed Oct. 50, 19572 Sheets-Sheet 1 A v 4 n llllllll' IIIIHII Ill? llllll T-IIIHIIIYIllllll I ANDREW SHARP SIDNEY T. BUTTERF'ILL DOUGLAS T-CAMPBELL INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY May 2, 1961 A. SHARP ETAL 2,982,462

COMBINATION REINFORCED BOX Filed Oct. 30, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ANDREWSHARP SIDNEY T. BUTTERFILL DOUGLAS T. CAMPBELL INVENTORY ATTORNEYCOMBINATION REINFORCED BOX Labor costs are high and, for the foreseeablefuture, may be expected to go higher. It is not enough, therefore, toproduce a box, the physical performance of which is satisfactory or evenoutstanding by all conventional stand- Andrew Sharp, Baie dUrfee,Quebec, and Sydney Thomas Filed Oct. 30, 1957, Ser. No. 693,393

1 Claim. (Cl. 229-23) It is an object of this invention to provide a boxformed preferably of corrugated board, having a pre-assembledreinforcing frame of wood or the like, preferably of the wire boundtype.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a box as aforesaidwhich may have a smooth interior, including both side and end walls.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a box as aforesaidwhich presents an unrestricted mouth open- It is a further object ofthis invention to provide a box as aforesaid in which the woodreinforcing frame affords bottom support as well as edgewisereinforcement.

It is a further object of this invention alternately to provide a box asaforesaid closeable by conventional flaps or by such modification ofsaid conventional flaps as may suit the exigencies of any particularneed. All such closures, involving extensions of the side and/or endwalls, will leave the reinforcing frame exposed on the interior of thebox, but for many varieties of contents this is permissible.

The above and other objects will be made clear from the following,detailed description taken in connection with the annexed drawings, inwhich:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the fully assembled box and frame;

Figure 2 is a plan view of the frame in flattened condition;

Figure 3 is an end elevation of the frame after the same has been setup;

Figure 4 is a plan view of a pertinent portion of the blank for the box;and

Figure 5 is a View similar to Figure 1 showing a conventional flapclosure as applied to the improved, reinforced box.

Of late years, manufacturers of liner board and solid fibre have beenoffering highly ornamental one-side finishes. This in turn, haspermitted the box makers greatly to improve and elaborate the printedmatter on the box exterior. These new facilities have been well receivedby the box buyers, so that today enormous quantities of shippingcontainers have just as much exterior ornamentation as have retailpackages. The present invention contemplates, in effect, the use of theouter box primarily as an expendable vehicle for ornamentation andinformative printed matter, with dependence on the pre-assembled,reusable, fully separable frame for strength, rigidity and protection ofthe contents. It will be understood that the weight and strength ofshipping containers is governed in minutiae by the FreightClassification Rules, and if these rules be not adhered to, the shipperships at his own risk. The weight and strength requirements of anunreinforced box naturally exceed those of a reinforced box. Throughoutthis specification, reference to greater or lesser strength or weighthas reference to the Freight Classification Rules as a datum.

The pre-assembled feature is of the greatest importance.

ards. The real cost must be minimized. The term real cost represents acomplex, of which the purchase price is only one factor. For example: itis an economic fact that it is impossible to ship fully erected emptycontainers from the box maker tothe user. Therefore, any container, tohave optimum practical value, should be shipped flat. This transfers tothe user the cost of setting up the container, which must be added tothe purchase price as an additional element of real cost. When the userships the filled containers, the container takes the same freight rateas the contents, therefore the tare or net weight ofthe container is afurther element of real cost.

This disclosure is based on an actual construction which has been wellreceived in the trade and represents the best construction thus farproduced. The details of construction, however, both of the box and ofthe frame, are susceptible of almost endless modification. The same mustbe said of theselection of materials for both the box and the frame.Indeed, within the basic concept of this invention, the outer containerneed not necessarily come within the technical term box, since a wrapperor even a bag would serve certain purposes.

Referring now to Figure 1, there is shown a'reinforced box 10, havingend walls 12 and 14 and side walls 16 and 18. The lower portion of thereinforcing frame is shown in part and designated generally as 20.

Referring now to Figure 2, the frame 20 is shown flattened out in planview. Only one end of the frame is illustrated, since the other end isidentical. The frame is made up of a lower cross-member 22, a verticalside member 24, a top cross-member 26 and another side member 28. Bottomslats 30 and 32 are secured'to the bottom cross-member 22. Slats 34 and'36 are secured to the vertical side member 24, While similar side slats38 and 40 are secured to the opposite vertical side member 28. A strandof wire 42, having free ends 44 and 46 is secured to the several partsby staples 42 and provides a flexible connection with the severed parts.

The frame 20 is shipped pre-assembled in the condition shown in Figure2. At the plant of the user, the frame is erected to the condition shownin Figure 3. It will be noted that the member 22 has tongues 22' formedat each end, while the member 26 has similar tongues 26' at its end.These tongues upon erection, engage mating grooves in the members 24 and28 and the structure is made rigid by twisting together free ends 44 and46 of the wire 42. V

This is conventional wire bound box practice.

It will be realized that both a wide variety of joints (e.g.: tongues26) and of ultimate closures (e.g.: twisting ends 44 and 46) areavailable within conventional Referring now to Figure 4, there isillustrated the pertinent portions of the box construction. The boxbottom a j a may be of any conventional design. In Figure 4, there isshown an end panel 14, havinga flap 5Q. The panel 14 is joined by scoreline 52 to a side wall 16, which carries a flap 54. The'flap 50 isjoined to the end wall 14 by af conventional score line 56. An auxiliaryscore line 58 i: runs parallel to the line 56 and is spaced therefrom adisf tance approximating the thickness of the frame member 26. Tongues60 are formed at opposite sides of the panel 50, which also contains afully died out hand hole 62.

The panel 14 contains a similar hand hole 64, which is die cut aroundthree of its edges and scored on the fourth Patented May 2, 1961 f 3edge. Panel 16 is joined to the flap 54 by a conventional score line 66.An auxiliary score line 68 is formed in the flap 54. The space betweenthe lines 66 and 68, however, is slightly less than the spacing betweenlines 56 and 58. Notches 76 are formed in opposite sides of the flap 54.

At the'plant of the user, the box and the reinforcing frame may beerected along parallel assembly lines. Of course, if already erected,pre-assembled frames are being transferred from discardablc ornamentalenclosures to new ornamental enclosures, the make up of the lines willbe different, but the potential advantage of parallelism willstill bepresent. The frame is then inserted within the box and the flaps 5t? and54 are folded over the adjacent upper frame members to the positionshown in Figure 1, in which condition the tongues 60 engage the notches'70 to form a self-locking structure. It will be understood that similarflaps, tongues and notches are provided for end panel 12 and side panel18. The interior of the box is completely unobstructed and smooth. Thehand holes 62 and 64 come into registry and the box is ready to receivethe contents. Any number of lid structures are available if it isdesired to close this type of box.

Referring now to Figure 5, there is shown a box 100 having thereinrare-assembled frame 102, in all respects, preferably, similar to theframe 20 hereinabove discussed. The box 100 has conventional end closureflaps 1&4 and conventional side closure flaps 106. These are shown insolid lines in the open or contents-receiving positions. Closure is madeto the dotted line positions shown in Figure 5. Naturally, considerablevariation in the form and proportion of the flaps is permissible,depending on the use to which the combined package is to be put. Itcannot be emphasized too strongly that, as regards the concept of thisinvention, structural details are immaterial.

In practice, the box, whether corrugated, solid fibre or any othersuitable material, is regarded as expendable. The reinforcing frame,however, may be reused many times. As thus far developed, this containerhas been used primarily for handling bottled goods in returnablebottles. For this use and for any analogous use, the con tainer isreturned in set-up condition. Upon its return, if the appearance has notbeen marred. it is ready for immediate reuse. If the appearance has beendamaged, the

' outer shell is discarded and the frame is fitted into a new shell.0bviously, the lighter the surface color of the shell, the more likelyit is to be damaged, so where the printing job calls for a bright basecolor and highly colored printing, the material of the shell should bemade of minimum weight.

We claim:

A reinforced rectangular corrugated box comprising a knock-down rigideratelike frame enclosed within the walls thereof, said enclosing wallsbeing formed from a one piece blank, said cratelike frame comprisingrectangular end frame members formed of end detachable interlockingcleats and spaced slats rigidly connecting opposed cleats of said endframes, each end frame with the slats connected thereto being encircledby a wire, said wire being in the plane of the respective end frame andbeing secured to the end of the cleats and ends of the slats thereof,said wire permitting the knock-down of said cratelike frame into planarform when removed from said box.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,922,842 Durand Aug. 15, 1933 2,293,361 Roberts Aug. 18, 1942 2,314,194Buch Mar. 16, 1943 2,329,170 Boese Sept. 7, 1943

